MrSMW

Well I am one of those, but not the other...

Exactly. I have a second smaller/lighter camera for wider stuff but it's always a choice I have to make otherwise, ie, do I go short (up to 75mm) or go longer but accept I can't go wider than 70mm, which is almost always far too tight. The Tamron 35-150 exists but extends too long when zoomed out and is just a bit too 'geeky' as is it's Samyang sister, so a pretty hard no for me. There's a compromise, there always is and if it's to be a bit of size and weight, so be it. I mean I was looking at the Sigma 105mm f1.4 fairly recently and the Nikon 135mm f1.8 Plena and whilst the latter is a little smaller and lighter but barely faster and FAR less flexible, the former is 300g heavier. And has zero flexibility. OK, it's faster, but that (beyond a point) is not the primary factor for me. A relatively fast: 50/70/85/105/135/150 all in one single lens? I just need to find the funds! I'd have been happy with a 50-150/2.8 had it maxed out at no more than 1kg, but if it was over, I'd suck up that extra weight and have that extra stop.

I think I ‘need’ it… More (exclusively actually for me) for stills than video. 2 years ago, I was running around with an S1R + battery grip + Leica 24-90 as my ‘one & done’ stills unit. It had 3 principal faults. 1. Weight; it was 2.8kg in the hands. 2. Using an APSC crop on the 47mp sensor, I could extend the focal length to 135mm with something like an 18mp file but that was not quite long enough for my needs ideally needing something within the 150-200mm range. 3. F4 at the longer ends which is a bit slow for a 90mm lens. Roll forward to 2024 and swapped that rig out for a trio of f2.8 zooms on the Sony A7R5 with the heaviest combo being approx 1.75kg with the 70-180mm, but that lens being a tad long for more general use. Sigma offer their 28-45mm f1.8 which primarily for indoor use would be PERFECT for my needs, but lacks a longer companion such as a 45-90mm f1.8, but even this would not give me the reach I need. Step forward Sony with this constant aperture f2 50-150mm. Does it cover all my focal range needs? No because it starts at 50mm, but covers everything beyond and then some because with the 61mp sensor on my A7R5 and APSC cropping, I can reach 225mm with a 26mp file. Is it big? Yes, but not ridiculously so and it is internal zoom and unless it’s a short extension, I can’t abide long zooming lenses. Is it heavy? Yes, kinda…and more than the 1kg self-imposed limit I would prefer but it covers 50-‘225’mm. At f2. Without extending. Or lens swaps. It would be approx 2.5kg in the hand as a combo with the baseplate I have on the A7R5. Three criticisms: 1. Why white only? Some of us would prefer to be more discrete and maybe they will follow up with a black one or someone like Alphgvard will have a skin soon? 2. No Arca Swiss built into the detachable tripod foot. That’s a bit of an oversight IMO. 3. Price. Despite US trade tarrifs, it’s still more in the UK and EU than the US… At least according to launch prices. So will I be getting one? I think yes, though it may have to wait until next year when they are beginning to appear on the used market, for financial reasons but I don’t think I am going to see a better option than this in my working lifetime. One & Done? Nope, but I have my Nikon Zf with 20-40mm f2.8 for the wider stuff and 40mm f2 for candid when I don’t want to be poking a white canon in peoples faces, plus if I ever decided to hop over fully to Nikon bodies, this new lens will work adapted on say a Z8 no problem.

Fortunately, I am a big Wes fan!

Same here. 16:9 is very device friendly for full screen use but isn’t as *cough* cinematic as 2.35:1, but I find that sometimes too extreme to be standard ‘style’ for all my work. I’m still debating whether to use 2:1 this year or stick with good old 16:9… The advantage of shooting open gate is we have options and with Lumix, multiple frame markers and conscious of my socials, one of those markers is 9:16. Being able to produce 2.35:1 and 9:16 from the same footage is a bit tricky, even with open gate and I will probably just stick with 16:9 + 9:16 as it’s the least extreme option. Well 1:1 is the least extreme, but no thanks as that’s for squares.

Yes but I mean rather than selling to buy, you have already bought so just sell, same as with shares etc, ie, buy when low and sell when high. The only thing in this situation is only a few knew and in the future, will know exactly when that time is.

Or the opposite which is if there was something you needed to buy, if the possibility existed, to have done that a couple of weeks back, but selling anything in the near future might actually be to your benefit because if used prices do increase?

Industry and customers alike just love this kind of 💩 It’s worse than waiting each time for the next Lumix camera announcement and whether they even will or not… It’s called ‘instability’ and when times are not stable, no one spends any 💰

The 24-70, 28-70 or the new secret 27-70mm f1 lens? I have the not so secret 28-70 and think it’s a great lens; light, compact, minimal zoom extension.

Funnily enough, (not for the new owner, but it is/was MPB’s job to check any kit I sold them), I sent them a Fuji XH1 with the same damage. I was doing a shoot for a band in Spain and they had a laser set up and when I came back, the footage got increasingly bad with this weird blue and pink ‘bubblegum’ like blobs on every single piece of footage. It was a disaster 😱

I’m somewhat surprised about that as other than a faulty fan on a used S5ii (still didn’t overheat on a job!), I have not had a single issue in this regard with a Lumix camera in 3 years of pro use and often have units running in direct Summer sun with temps over 35 degrees C in the shade, so ‘god’ knows how hot in direct. I have melted long before any Lumix 🥵

There are better mirrorless video cameras for sure. I’d pick my S5ii’s without thinking about it. There are better hybrids; S1Rii, Z6iii, Z8, R5ii come to mind. But for stills, other than the Leica SL3 which beats it for design, build and badge, this side of medium format, I don’t think there is a better camera available today and at used prices… It’s hardly lacking in the video department and can shoot 8k but video is not its real strength. With a single prime or a small set (such as the Sigma contemporary line) in a small bag or a single or set of compact zoom lenses such as the Tamron’s, or even a lens such as Sony’s own 24-50 f2.8, it’s a bonkers good piece of kit. Compact but chunky, well built and with the best rear LCD in the business, for me and my needs, it’s that no-brainer they talk about. For most of this forum, maybe not. For the same money, I’d take the SL3 over it and maybe still if I could find one (doesn’t exist) at £3000, but beyond that, nope. I’ve flirted with the notion of medium format but Fuji does not have the lenses and Hasselblad is so far beyond my means, it might as well be one of those cameras on the moon. I’ve had quite a few Sony cameras over the years and admired a few, but none of them quite hit the spot. The A7RV is the first to do so and it’s only real fault for me is it doesn’t have a Lumix badge on it. (I like stuff to match).

Buy anything that @Andrew Reid hoped to buy, just so he can’t.

Can’t afford to do otherwise!

All of this uncertainty is just stupid. I'm so glad I made all my business decisions re. kit before all of this kicked off. It amuses me to still look and speculate on a few things, but I won't be buying or changing anything this year and therefore can't be hit by any of this stoopidity, in CameraLand anyway.

Zero issues. To be fair, my issues have not so much been with MPB but with DHL regarding pick ups and deliveries. Because so many drivers are sub-contractors these days and get paid peanuts, in more rural areas, they skip as many of the more distant collections or deliveries with the latter often being dumped at some collection point 10-15km away, or undelivered with claims that the recipient was not in to sign. But in recent times, it seems these sub-contracts have been taken over by the post office and they simply deliver or collect on their normal rounds. MPB themselves have downgraded me on a couple of items I have sold to them but have equally, upgraded quite a few. Prices can be a bit all over the place and based on what I am not sure. At one point a year or so back, Canon R3's were well over 5k and as a result, I decided against and bought something else...only for the prices to go under 4k within weeks. I pondered that for a while and made a business case for Canon, but all units were sold out by then and when they had new stock (I set up an alert), back over 5k again! I had same condition S5ii trade price of around 1k one week and below 700 the following week... My 3 lenses that completed this years kit though, all exactly as expected and will be in use in a few weeks time.

There seems to be a big discrepancy these days in what we used to call 'the working class' feel about the 'wealthy'. If they worked hard, then they are often sneered at and derided, but if they went viral on TikTok or some uber-shallow reality TV show and became 'rich & famous' as a result, then that is something to aspire to. The world gets ever more mad.

The level of condescension in regards to other countries, their leaders and their people, is off the charts. His behaviour and speech is surreal.

I am sure this is the direction it will head in and pretty much everyone except his most hardcore acolytes, will realise they have been royally presidentially, shafted. I've seen that movie and I would not bet against that becoming a reality, possibly even before this year is out. As Luke Skywalker once said, "I have a bad feeling about this..."

I'd swap out a few items there... All of the animals for a hunting rifle with scope for longer range stuff and a pump action shotgun for the closer stuff. I've seen up to Season 5 of The Walking Dead so feel I am quite well informed on such matters. The matches I'd keep and the sharp knife though I might swap out both the sharp knife and the cricket bat for a single sword? And as ridiculous as this sounds, it's no more insane than the news currently spewing out of North America. And get some gold coins. Not the chocolate kind as they might melt, but the real stuff because you can trade them for food in the future. Such as soy beans.

I just went out into my back garden and turned the lawn into a field of soy beans instead. Someone has to feed those estimated 440 million piggies in China and I reckon I’m gonna get me a slice of that piggy pie.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BMFV7H9M?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title As I stated, they are not Sony branded batteries but they are 'NP-F970'. I never buy branded batteries for any of my gear other than the battery that comes with say a camera and never had an issue in pro use. Actually, I lie, I had one battery for a Fuji camera once that got a bit hot and expanded so I dumped it, but otherwise, nada.

I just went for a set of 4 including quad charger, 'Powerextra' from Amazon for just over €100 delivered. Mine are to power my Amuran lights 'off grid' because finding a power supply and using extension cables is not always ideal.

I dunno, I just popped down to the local magasin and right there on the shelf next to (the school kids buying) absinthe and Gauloise, were some bottles of the stuff labelled 'extra long shelf life 235'. Being serious, they DO pay much more for groceries here if it has a 'Made in France' sticker on it. We're not talking especially 'artisan sourced local product', but just every day things that are exactly the same. They fill up on the stuff out of national pride and fair play if it supports the supermarket profits. Personally, being a Brit, I'll go to LIDL or ALDI.